apple, google and samsung have been cleaning blackberry's clock lately. the company reported a loss of $965 million in the second quarter. that's it for "the lead." i'm jake tapper. see you tomorrow from the garden state with an exclusive behind the scenes look at election day with governor chris christie. i now turn you over to wolf blitzer in "the situation room." happening now, we have new details on the deadly rampage at the los angeles international airport. police may have been just minutes away from preventing the shooting. should tsa officers now be armed? i will ask california senator dianne feinstein. also, are the 2016 battle lines being drawn? chris christie may be heading for a big win that could boost his white house chances as an influential center. it falls on hillary clinton to launch her own run. and four years after political opposition fueled his plans to try them in new york

city, attorney general eric holder says they would be on death row right now. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." right now, we're learning much more about the bloody shooting rampage at los angeles airport that sent panicked passengers fleeing for their lives, left a tsa officer dead and three more victims wounded. now there's a brand new push by the union that represents tsa officers to give them law enforcement status, in other words, guns and arrest powers to protect themselves and the public. meantime, the suspect, who allegedly targeted the tsa, remains in critical condition. cnn's stephanie elam has been piecing together the details of what happened, an incident that might have potentially been prevented. what are you learning? >> reporter: well, wolf, the idea of arming some tsa officers is just one idea that's being suggested in light of the shooting here. in the meantime, investigators continue to look for reasons why this 23-year-old shooter was

allegedly so angry with the tsa. >> we were up in security at the time of the shooting, and we heard the initial gun shots. >> reporter: police say alleged gunman paul ciancia entered los angeles international airport's terminal three friday morning armed with an assault rifle and five magazines of ammunition. the fbi says it recovered a handwritten note on ciancia that made it clear he was out to kill multiple tsa officers. authorities say he shot tsa officer gerardo hernandez at point-blank range, sending passengers in the security screening area running for cover. investigators say then ciancia went up an escalator but after apparently spotting hernandez still moving on the floor, he doubled back to shoot him again, killing hernandez. >> there was a pause, and so i looked down the escalator and i saw the gunman, he had his gun trained on the guy on the wall there and he shot him twice. >> reporter: in the end, two more tsa officers and a traveler

were hit. l.a.x. police shot ciancia several times in the face and neck. he's alive but in his condition, he remains unresponsive. earlier friday morning, ciancia sent his family in new jersey rambling text messages. a woman who says she knows him says ciancia said he was going to commit suicide. the family alerted authorities, who then asked lapd to do a welfare check. if only police had gotten to his place just 45 minutes earlier, they might have stopped the rampage. but ciancia was already gone. he demanded a ride to the airport from one of his roommates. cnn's miguel marquez spoke exclusively to the woman who knows ciancia and his roommates. she says the roommates were handcuffed and questioned. >> at that moment that they're seeing this on the tv, their third roommate comes back, said oh, i just dropped off paul at l.a.x. he had to go home. they said i think you just dropped off paul to a shooting. >> reporter: describing ciancia as socially awkward, the woman

also said he expressed strong feelings about the government. >> all the nsa findings that came out this year, he was very upset about it and he also thought that tsa abused their power. >> reporter: in light of the shootings, some are asking whether tsa officers should be armed. >> the function of the tsa is to ensure that people can board planes safely, take flights safely. the responsibility for protecting airport security is not a tsa function but something that i think we need to certainly examine given what happened in los angeles. >> reporter: with beefed up security, officials are focused on how to avoid scenes like this from friday. passengers running for their lives. and wolf, an update on one of those passengers. there was one passenger who was shot in the leg. we understand that his condition was upgraded to good from fair today. the other two tsa agents who were wounded, who were shot, they have been treated and released from the hospital. >> stephanie elam with the latest from l.a.x., thank you. so could the l.a.x. shooting

have been prevented if, if tsa officers at the airports had guns themselves? let's discuss with democratic senator dianne feinstein of california. she's the chair of the senate intelligence committee. senator, thanks very much for coming in. >> thank you, wolf. good to talk to you. >> thank you. do you believe these tsa officers should be armed? >> no, not per se. but i think there's a problem there. i can understand how an armed police officer would not want to stand at a checkpoint for a full eight hours. maybe they should be rotated in every two hours. but to have a two to three-minute delay to getting an armed police officer to a check point, i think is too long and i think what this does in addition to the tragedy it has caused families and those people wounded, is also another thing that was pointed out, and that

is that this shooter could have gotten on to that plane in the process of loading with an open cockpit door, and that presents a whole host of other problems. so i think you've got to take a look at the check point, you've got to have the check point protected with armed officers virtually at all times. maybe not tsa, because tsa is up close and personal, they're doing body searches, you don't want someone snatching a weapon from a tsa officer, but with other forms of armed police. i really think it's going -- what this has done is expose a big loophole in psecurity. >> i'm sure everybody is taking a close look to l som lessons from this and move on. one of the things that jumped out at me and a lot of other folks, if you take a look at this incident, so many recent incidents of these lone individuals going some place and starting to shoot and kill

people. i've got a list over here, the navy yard recently here in washington, sandy hook elementary, aurora theater, tucson, virginia tech, there's a history of mental illness in all of these shooters. what, if anything, can congress do, should congress be doing, to deal with these mental health issues, these individuals supposedly hearing voices in their head, forcing them to go out and kill people? >> well, congress or the united states government doesn't run mental health facilities. what we do is provide funding to local jurisdictions who do. so this is very difficult. there have been a lot of speeches made on we've got to increase mental health protection, diagnosis, but how exactly do you do that and how do you know that when somebody goes in to buy a gun, that they are mentally ill if they don't appear to be so at the moment?

this is, i think, a real dilemma. it is not easy to do. i think and my view has been after a long time of watching this since the first mass shooting in 1968 at the texas bell tower, is that we have to care about the kinds of weapons that are available to people, and here you have a .223 mp-15, mp standing for military and police. that was the supposed use of this weapon. it's an ar-15 type weapon. it's made by smith & wesson. whether it has a bullet button in it that would make it legal to use in california or to sell in california, i don't know. >> supposedly, senator, he went to a gun store in van nuys, bought this assault rifle legally without any problems with magazines and all of that.

>> that's my understanding. >> is there a problem there in van nuys, california, where someone can just go in and buy this gun even if he may have some sort of history of mental illness? >> well, i don't know whether this was a federal firearms dealer or not. so that has to be shown. i've heard that it was, but i don't know for sure. but i think there's got to be a way to prevent people who have unstable mental illnesses from obtaining firearms. now, in aurora, this young man was clearly unstable. his mother should have known it from a lot of his attitude and behavior in his room. she took him out shooting. now, that's a strange thing. so how you do this, i wish i knew. how you categorize somebody as

mentally not able to buy a firearm, i wish i knew. i don't happen to know that right now. >> let's talk about the nsa for a moment. you're the chair of the senate intelligence committee. eric schmidt, the google executive chairman, telling the "wall street journal" this. the nsa allegedly collected the phone records of 320 million people in order to identify roughly 300 people who might be a risk. it's just bad public policy and perhaps illegal. you agree with him? >> no. and i'll tell you this much. you take down that phone records program and you will increase the risk of an attack in this country. i very much believe that. these phone record programs were part of at least 12 potential arrests in the country in the past and i think because we have been saved from a major attack, i think there's a belief around well, terrorism is down.

terrorism is not down. worldwide, it is up. it is up 69% in the year '12 over '11, and fatalities are up 89%. so you've had 8500 attacks worldwide with some 15,500 people killed. now, we're lucky it isn't the united states. it's africa, it's asia, it's the middle east. but you begin to cut back on the ability of our systems to protect this country and you make it more likely that there will be an attack, that you will make it easier for these people to attack. additionally, we now know theres a bomb that gets through airport magnetometers. we now know there have been three instances to penetrate the united states with this bomb. actually, with four bombs.

one on christmas day in '09, one in dubai with two printer cartridges of computers having this bomb in the cartridge reportedly headed to chicago, and then in about a year and two months ago, by an asset who developed -- who had access to one of these bombs from aqap in yemen. the bomb maker is still alive. we know they want to attack the united states with one of these weapons. do we want to make it easier or harder? that's what i would say to the american public. i want to make it harder. >> senator feinstein, thanks so much for joining us. >> you're very welcome, wolf. thank you. up next, the u.s. senate is about to vote on a bill to end workplace bias against gays but will such a bill ever make it to the president's desk? and chris christie has a

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just minutes from now, the senate is expected to take up a key vote on a bill to end discrimination against gays in the workplace. it's an effort president obama has been going at great lengths to get both houses of congress to deliver on this issue, but

there's a real chance that will not happen. our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is over at the white house with new details. what's the latest, jim? >> reporter: well, wolf, apple ceo tim cook got a lot of people's attention today with an op-ed in the "wall street journal" where he basically called for a law that bans workplace discrimination against gays and lesbians. now presidents obama is doing very much the same, calling on congress to make that sort of protection the law of the land. once an opponent of same sex marriage, president obama has evolved into a fierce advocate for gay rights. the latest example, a subject he touched on last june. >> we've got to end lgbt discrimination in the places where we work. >> reporter: now, with the senate taking up legislation to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender americans from job discrimination, the president is calling on republicans in congress to help send the bill to his desk. in a huffington-post-op-ed, the president said such unfair treatment is offensive, wrong, and needs to stop. who you are and who you love

should never be a fireable offense. is the president challenging the speaker to call for a vote? >> the president is calling on the house to take up the legislation and to pass it. >> reporter: the nation's only openly gay senator, democrat tammy baldwin, urged her colleagues to show courage. >> it's about opportunity, about whether every american gets to dream the same dreams, chase the same ambitions and have the same shot at success. >> reporter: but a spokesman for house speaker john boehner sounded cool to the idea, saying in a statement the speaker believes this legislation will increase frivolous litigation and cost american jobs, especially small business jobs. prominent social conservatives are also opposed as tony perkins with the family research council wrote on a blog, can you imagine walking in your child's classroom and meeting a teacher dressed in drag? that's just one of the many consequences of adopting a law as dangerous as this one.

>> this is just the ravings of a fringe figure that have nothing to do with the reality that americans are living in today. >> reporter: democrat jared poulis, an openly gay congressman, said he's seeing more gop lawmakers coming on board and the hopes of ending discrimination in the roughly 30 states that allow employers to fireworkers based on their sexual orientation. >> we have five republican co-sponsors, many other republicans have told me privately they will vote for it. >> reporter: just to give you a sense of the bipartisan support for this bill, want to show you something that just happened in the last few moments on the floor of the senate. a united states senator, republican from illinois who suffered a stroke back in january of 2012, he just gave his first speech on the floor of the senate since that stroke. he was seated during the speech but he said in his remarks i would say that i have been silent for the last two years due to a stroke. i have risen to speak because i believe so passionately in the

end the statute. the prospects are pretty good this will get out of the senate. the real question is where things stand in the house and whether house speaker john boehner allows it to come up for a vote. >> a lot more problematic in the house than in the senate. thanks very much, jim acosta. our best to senator kirk as well. let's take a closer look at some of the other top stories we're following in "the situation room." a remarkable discovery reported inside this munich apartment building. get this, a collection of some 1500 artworks, including special works by picasso, matisse confiscated by the nazis more than 70 years ago and worth more than $1 billion. the german magazine focus says they were found in the home of an elderly man whose father collected art for the nazis. a remarkable rescue at new york university where a missing student was discovered trapped in an narrow space between two buildings. take a look at where he was wedged for almost two days. rescuers had to break through three layers of cinderblock. he's now in fair condition.

not clear how he wound up trapped. and look at what surprised passengers and workers at chicago's o'hare airport found. this foot and a half long alligator was found inside terminal three. officials suspect someone abandoned it before passing through security and are investigating a picture posted on twitter of a man holding the same alligator. they are two fordable tentialhiteouse hopels. up next, we catch up with new jersey governor chris christie on the eve of what's expected to be a re-election landslide in new jersey. plus, hillary clinton, we have details of an influential u.s. senator now publicly officially calling on her to run for president.

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the day before new jersey voters cast their ballots, polls show the governor chris christie holds a massive lead over his democratic challenger. it's an election that could put christie in very solid position for a white house run and it's an election that may have a big impact on the future of the republican party. cnn's erin mcpike is live in new jersey and joins us now.

what does it look like there? >> reporter: well, wolf, chris christie was campaigning this morning in freehold, new jersey, which of course is the home of bruce springsteen but in the past four years, chris christie has become very much a rock star in his own right in this state, and i've got to tell you, he was getting that kind of treatment everywhere he went today. four years after he won in what was a squeaker, this race which he's expected to win by 20 to 30 points, is expected to catapult him to the top of the republican presidential field in 2016. new jersey governor chris christie is on an eight day, 90 stop bus tour across his state despite impending victory but his real message to new jersey voters might as well be to republicans across the country. >> imagine that on one night in our history, the whole country is looking to new jersey for leadership. >> reporter: the latest poll shows him doubling up on his opponent, a state senator the national democratic party gave up on months ago. >> the whole country is watching. they're disspirited about the

way government works. they look at the mess in washington, d.c. and that sends a loud and clear message to the knuckleheads in washington, d.c. >> reporter: christie's fans on the right are building up this year's election as a preview of the 2016 presidential campaign. something the brash former prosecutor is openly considering. >> i can do this job and also deal with my future and that's exactly what i will do. >> reporter: next year, christie will run the republican governors association, a fund-raising organization other prominent republican governors have used to develop a national base as they gear up for a presidential bid, like mitt romney did. >> chris could easily become our nominee and save our party and help get this nation on the right track again. they don't come better than chris christie. >> reporter: some conservatives criticize christie for embracing president obama a year ago for the super storm sandy recovery but christie dismisses that, urges republicans to work with democrats and is going out of his way to build support among women and hispanics. he brought just two out of state republicans to campaign with him

this fall. rudy giuliani and new mexico governor susanna martinez. >> she's a republican governor of a blue state just like me working with democrats on the other side of the aisle to get things done and sticking to our principles. >> reporter: this election, of course, is a stark contrast to the virginia governor's race, where republicans are already starting to talk about what went wrong with their candidate, ken cuccinelli, who is more of a tea party candidate who is expected to lose to democrat terry mcall live. >> erin mcpike in new jersey. jake tapper will be on the campaign trail with chris christie for his final day of campaigning tomorrow. we'll have an exclusive behind the scenes sit-down interview with the governor that will air on "the lead" 4:00 p.m. eastern tomorrow right here on cnn. so is chris christie setting the stage for a white house run? let's discuss with our chief political analyst, gloria borger and chief national correspondent, john king. i think everybody agrees the answer is yes. >> yes. he is. >> yes.

yeah. >> now move on. >> he's blunt about that. he makes no issue, he's not pretending. he's clear that he's very interested in seeking the republican nomination. >> yeah, and he's clearly pushing his own brand which is much more personal than idealogical. he's making a point of appealing to hispanic voters, to women voters and he's sort of saying you can't just appeal to the base of your party if you want to win a presidential campaign. >> and to get things done. you heard him with the new mexico governor, you have to work with democrats. people are disgusted with this town and chris christie knows it. disgusted with washington. he's trying to say i can be a republican candidate but can also get things done. and he gets a huge platform next year, head of the republican governors association. look at the governors races in 2014. they will take into, oh, pretty important states in presidential politics, like iowa, ohio, south carolina. he's on a track. >> you know, president obama won his state by 17 points.

there are 700,000 more registered democrats than republicans in the state of new jersey, and he could win by what? 30 points? >> here's the question, because you understand this. he's a moderate republican. if he were to get the republican nomination, he would have a decent chance, but could he win in iowa, the iowa caucus, could he win in south carolina, those early contests for whoever needs to win the republican nomination? >> the interesting part about chris christie, we describe him as a moderate. it's because it's what he decides to lead with. he's anti-abortion rights. he's anti-same sex marriage. >> he allowed it to go forward in new jersey. he could have blocked it. >> he saw it was inevitable in the state supreme court. instead of fighting it which social conservatives fight anyway even if you're going to lose. they question whether they can trust him like mitt romney. >> will he cut taxes. >> he wanted to cut taxes, hasn't been able to get that through the legislature. the interesting part is he's perceived as very moderate, where you could describe him as moderate because he's a more -- he's not an -- he's a get things

done, cut the best deal conservative and he has had to do that in a blue state. i think this is the fascinating test. when he's in iowa, what are the rand pauls and ted cruzes and rick santorum say? does mitt romney's blessing help or hurt? >> he's perceived as a moderate because he embraced the president of the united states on the eve of the 2012 election after super storm sandy. >> the man who by the way made sure that his state got funneled millions of dollars and stood by him when his state was in need. >> other republicans hated him for that. >> they did, but did his embrace, did the embrace mean anything to mitt romney in the end? absolutely not. >> if you speak to some romney folks, they were irritated by it. >> they were irritated by it but did it cause him the election? no, it didn't. this is a personal brand this man has. i am not a phony, i am not idealogical, i am conservative but not idealogical. there's a difference there.

i'm not a phony, i'm blunt. i am who i am is what he always likes to say. people like that precisely because of what john is saying, which is that they hate washington and they believe no one here is who they say they are. >> it's a very different picture in virginia. you have a tea party favorite who is in deep trouble right now. terry mcauliffe, the democratic candidate for governor, he's ahead in all of the polls. he's got some flaws out there. but he looks like he's poised to win. >> if terry mcauliffe wins, watch chris christie, to use that election as much as his own big margin in new jersey, to say that the republicans finally won virginia back. bob mcdonnell, the governor, even though he's had issues, you have mark warner, democrat, tim keane, democrat. you have an improving economy. there's no reason a republican candidate can't win, the right republican candidate can't win this year in virginia and yet should be popular with conservatives because he sued to block the president's health care law. yet it looks like he's losing. chris christie will say i can

win a blue state. the tea party guy can't win a competitive conservative state. republicans, you should learn a message. >> one of the things that affects virginia was the shutdown. because you have all the government employees in northern virginia, the shutdown was not exactly popular and you know, now of course, the fact that obama care is not functioning well should help cuccinelli to a certain degree but this was also raised about social issues an awful lot. it wasn't just a tea party, when you think of tea party, you think more of fiscal issues than you do of the social issues, and this became a race really for women voters in the state of virginia. >> were you surprised that chuck schumer, the democratic senator from new york, went to iowa to a democratic fund-raising dinner over the weekend and said this. listen. >> but 2016 is hillary's time. run, hillary, run! if you run, you'll win and we'll all win. >> all right. what's the answer?

>> it's the safest line in democratic politics right now. here's what's fascinating about it. smart demos, sma docrathent com. the party looks like it's in a mess right now, however, you've had a two term democratic president. history tells you the publicans will win next time. a lot of democrats say she's our best candidate, let's avoid a blooprimary, essentially anoint somebody into a general election while the republicans are still having this civil war. that will allow us to keep the white house. >> he also know that there's a coming civil war in the democratic party. they are going to start fighting over entitlement reform, how much can you cut, will the president try and cut a deal with republicans, will he lose his base, could hillary clinton be challenged from the left, for example. so get her in there early, get a nominee early and let the republicans as john says have their -- >> she lived it once. i bet she's skeptical of it again. >> thanks very much. this important note to our viewers, please be sure to stay with cnn for special election night coverage tomorrow night.

i'll be updating you throughout the evening as results come in on all of the key races, tomorrow night, special coverage. up next, the senate is about to vote on a bill to end workplace bias against gays and lesbians, but will such a bill ever make it to the president's desk? stand by. and coming up, the actress kerry washington helped "saturday night live" poke fun at itself and the recent debate about diversity on the show. the day my doctor told me i had diabetes, i remember thinking there's a lot i have to do... check my blood sugar, eat better. start insulin. today i learned there's something i don't have to do anymore. my doctor said with levemir® flexpen... i don't have to use a syringe and a vial. levemir® flexpen comes prefilled with long-acting insulin taken once daily for type 2 diabetes to help control high blood sugar. dial the exact dose. inject by pushing a button. no drawing from a vial. no refrigeration for up to 42 days. levemir® (insulin detemir [rdna origin] injection) is not recommended to treat diabetic ketoacidosis.

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the new york city bill de blasio is poised to become the first democratic mayor in a generation. he holds a huge lead in the polls but that hasn't stopped a tough debate over crime and civil liberties. let's go live to new york.

cnn's national correspondent, deborah feyerick, has the latest. what is the latest? >> reporter: well, wolf, those who lived in new york city for more than a decade say they've seen a major turnaround. the streets are safer and the city has become more livable, at least in manhattan. when you get to the other four areas like brooklyn, people say it's time for things to change. new york city today is a far, far different place than it was 30 years ago. this is times square now. this is times square back in the '80s and '90s when crime was rampant. and racial tensions in the city were high. >> bill de blasio voted to take over 5,000 cops off our streets. >> reporter: in campaign ads, the republican candidate for mayor warns those days could return under his democrat opponent, bill de blasio. >> i believe bill de blasio and his approach to public safety is reckless. >> reporter: de blasio says on the issue of public safety, civil rights are at stake and that it's time to end the city's more aggressive policing

strategies like stop and frisk. >> we can be safer, in fact, if we take the foundation, the core of what we have, and build upon it a better working relationship between police and community. >> reporter: his opponent is backed by his former tough on crime boss, rudy giuliani, who along with michael bloomberg are the mayors credited with reducing crime, cleaning up the city and making new york a good place to live. yet he remains nearly 40 points behind de blasio, a dyed in the wool progressive positioning hmself as the anti-bloomberg. >> after 12 years of mayor bloomberg, it's time for a real change in this town. >> reporter: de blasio has promised to close the money gap between new york city's rich and new york city's poor. >> it's resonating in particular with minority and low income voters. >> reporter: loda, who served as the city's budget director under giuliani and who most recently ran the city's entire transportation system, says de blasio's desire to raise taxes on wealthier new yorkers to fund his universal pre-k programs for the poor underscores de blasio's

fundamental lack of financial experience. >> new york city is the highest taxed municipality in the united states of america. we cannot afford to increase taxes. >> we know early childhood education is the difference maker. we know it is the most effective investment we make in education. >> reporter: de blasio ran hillary clinton's first senate campaign and served most recently as the city's public advocate. you had a small staff. what qualifies you to run a $70 billion budget. >> i have been in public life in this city 25 years now. >> reporter: loda, the son of a police officer, is the first in his family to go to college and is a self-made millionaire. >> this is the first time i have ever run for elective office. >> is it daunting? >> it's a challenge. >> you're ahead in the polls. is this a slam dunk? >> nothing's a slam dunk. you have to run scared. >> reporter: both men trying to embrace the positive legacies of their predecessors while trying hard to set themselves apart. that's one of the things, because the city is in a relatively good place, it's hard

to pick one single issue. the republican candidate says, however, even though he's way behind, he's not paying attention to the polls. wolf? >> deb, thanks very much. deborah feyerick reporting. the attorney general, eric holder, sounding a little boastful today. listen to this. >> not to be egocentric about this, but i was right. >> so what was he right about? we have details, next. plus, cnn's jeanne moos with an unusual sighting at the new york city marathon. ooh, homemade soup! yeah... [ male announcer ] campbell's homestyle soup with farm grown veggies. just like yours. huh. [ male announcer ] and roasted white meat chicken. just like yours. [ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. i love this show. [ male announcer ] try campbell's homestyle soup. he was a matted messiley in a small cage. ng day. [ male announcer ] you'll think it's homemade. i love this show. so that was our first task, was getting him to wellness. without angie's list, i don't know if we could have found all the services we needed for our riley.

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the attorney general of the united states says effectively i told you so but what exactly is eric holder boasting about? find out next. you really love, what would you do?" ♪ [ woman ] i'd be a writer. [ man ] i'd be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot.

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shaikh mohammed and other alleged 9/11 plotters in a new york city court. >> not to be egocentric about this, but i was right. i think that had we gone along the path that i announced at that time, we would not have had to close down half of manhattan. it wouldn't have cost $200 million a year, and the defendants would be on death row as we speak. >> holder's plans quickly collapsed in a sea of concern from republicans in congress and others that such a move potentially could endanger the united states. joining us now to talk about this, our senior legal analyst, jeffrey toobin. so you agree with holder, does he have a point that the u.s. should have closed guantanamo, moved khalid shaikh mohammed and others to a courtroom in new york city for trial? >> well, he has at least half a point, i think, because it is certainly true that over four

years, this was 2009 when he put that plan into effect or tried to put that plan into effect, he would have -- his office, the justice department, would have gotten a conviction and would have gotten a death sentence. the u.s. attorney's office in manhattan has a perfect record on the evident is overwlauming, so i think he's right that he would be on death row today. the question of whether lower manhattan would have been shut down because of antiterrorist precautions, whether it could have cost $200 million, whether there would have been a terrorist attack, no one can know, but he certainly, i think was right about the case itself. >> the $200 million comes from what the white house says it cost u.s. taxpayers to maintain ha prison facility. in fact the president just issued a statement through his press secretary saying he remains fully committed to closing the detention facility. maybe clear that they have the

full support as they work to facilitate the transfer the guantanamo detainees form thesh who have been cleared to go to other countries. we call again on congress to lift the restrictions on detainee transfers, which have significantly limited our ability to responsibly redue the detainee population and ultimately close the facility. i guess the question is, is guantanamo ever going to be closed? >> that's a hard question. at the moment, president obama does not have the legal authority to close it. as a result of this political debacle of trying to try khalid sheikh mohammed in the united states, congress passed a law which president obama reluctantly signed, saying the facility had to remain open. it is true that the administration one by one is trying to place those deemed ready for release around the world, but that's a slow and laborious process. some of the people like khalid

sheikh mohammed himself will probably get military commissions to probably be sentenced to death, but there is this other category of people for whom there is not enough evidence to try them, but our view is they're too dangerous to release. their status remain very uncertain and they appear to be in a legal netherworld that will not end anytime in the foreseeable future at all. >> with that, jeffrey toobin, thank you. jeanne moos finds jesus in a most unlikely place. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, it does make a sound? ohhh...ohhh...oh boy! i'm falling. everybody look out! ahhhhh...ugh. little help here. geico.

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heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact explaining my moderate to severe so there i was again, chronic plaque psoriasis to another new stylist. it was a total embarrassment. and not the kind of attention i wanted. so i had a serious talk with my dermatologist about my treatment options. this time, she prescribed humira-adalimumab. humira helps to clear the surface of my skin by actually working inside my body. in clinical trials, most adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis saw 75% skin clearance. and the majority of people were clear or almost clear in just 4 months. humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. serious, sometimes fatal events, such as infections, lymphoma,

or other types of cancer have happened. blood, liver and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure have occurred. before starting humira, your doctor should test you for tb. ask your doctor if you live in or have been to a region where certain fungal infections are common. tell your doctor if you have had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have symptoms such as fever, fatigue, cough, or sores. you should not start humira if you have any kind of infection. make the most of every moment. ask your dermatologist about humira, today. clearer skin is possible. "saturday night live" was poking fun at itself. check out kerry washington as michelle obama. >> i am so sorry to interrupt, but oprah winfrey has arrived for dinner. she would love to pop in and say hello. >> that's wonderful. >> what a nice surprise. >> isn't it?

so don't you think you should get changed? >> why? >> so that oprah can come in? >> oh, because of the, and keenan -- >> nope. >> well, in that case, i will leave, and in a few minutes oprah will be here. >> the producers at "saturday night live" would like to apologize for kerry washington for the number of black women she's being asked to portray. she's an actress of considerable range and talent, and because snl does not currently have a black woman. we agree this is not an ideal situation and look forward to rectifying it. >> kerry washington stars in "scandal." a most unusual site at the new york city marathon. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: somewhere in that matt of humanity, a single

runner stood out. soon the news started to spread via twitter. i found jesus, new york city marathon. in no time he had a nickname. marathon jesus had me tight in his cross straps, as he ran barefoot in a loincloth, he lugged a foam or cardboard cross. the marathon often attracts runners in costume from elmo to oscar the grouch, even a juggler, but juggling a cross is new for new york. for someone who sure looks like the same guy was spotted at the tokyo marathon last year. while some call this the craziest costume, it seemed more religion on you message than mass ka raid. on the back of the cross were words "pray for boston" referring to the bombing. as he approached the ten-mile mark, he ran into police, the

officers confiscated his cross, and a short while later he showed up at the precinct to retrieve it. apparently no cross meant no point in crossing the finish line. the tracker embedded in the bib each runner wears, in this case attached to the cross, shows marathon jesus ending his run at the ten-mile, ma after 1:49 minutes. it was registered to a man from japan. marathon jesus doesn't seem to want to spread the word. he told us i am not the jesus guy. even former "baywatch" star pamela anderson beat out marathon jesus. pamela at least managed to finish the 26.2 mar athought in 5 hours and 41 minutes, then tweeted out this photo captioned

"ouch." you want ouch? try walking ten miles on new york concrete in bare feet. jeanne moos, cnn. new york. happening now, panic in the obama care war room. now proof of fears that people will be disappointed even after the website is fixed. plus the -- the stars and stripes in flames, and the future of nuclear talks in doubt. and republican senator rand paul firing back at widening allegations that he actually plagiarized some of his speeches. has his status a a tea party star and potential president athopeful been damaged? we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, you're in "the situation room."

>> the president is speak out, and you can bet they'll put a positive base on obama care's problems. there he is, speaking at a fund-raiser here in washington at a hotel. cnn has obtained some notes from inside the administration's war room that reveal deep fears about the health care program and the political back lash. joe johns is here in the "the situation room" as we wait the president getting to the substance of his remarks. >> outwardly, the administration is confident and optimistic. for the roll-out. as a result of this choice and this competition, prices have come down.

when add the new tax credits, that many people are eligible for through the law. >> prescribely there is concern. internal war room notes, and obtained by cnn, detailed worries that when the web side is up and running, there might be stick are shock and anger. in some cases there would be fewer options. and ideal shopping experience. additional in some cases there will be relatively high-cost plans. request for consumer to call in wasn't a way of bypassing the glitchy healthcare.gov website, why? because they use the same computer system. >> the point of the call-in

centers was to reduce the from us station that individuals having. that's what he said. in the meantime, we're, you know, busting rocks every day to fix the web sites so that it's up and running at a standard that's acceptable for the vast majority of americans by the end of the month. >> these come from meetings of the center for consumer information and insurance oversight. the center still has not release ed how many have actually enrolled. there's a note that at that time they were receiving about 30,000 requests for paper applications the -- >> you know what? i want to listen to what the president is telling these democratic fund-raisers here in washington. >> there's been so much noise and misinformation, and this incredible organized effort

what's happened quietly across the country over the last three years hasn't gotten a lot of attention. in fact a lot of the people who are benefiting don't even know it. because of you, the insurance market now has the strongest consumer protections that this country has ever known. no more discriminating against kids with preexisting conditions. no more dropping your policy when you get sick. no more lifetime limits on the care that you can receive. all of that and more thought of the patient's bill of rights that's smack dab in the middle of the artable care act, and it's helping people right now. because of you there are 3

million young adults under the age of 26 that are getting coverage by staying on their parents' plans right now, including leslie's son. that happened because of you, because of you millions of seniors on medicare very saved hundreds of dollars on their prescription medicines. it's already happened. they may not be aware of it, but that's already taking place. they're saving money because of the work that you did. more than 100 million americans have gone free preventative care like mammograms, contraceptive care, with no co-pays. that's all part of the law. because of you millions of americans will soon know the security of health care, in some cases for the first time. states where governors have chosen to expand medicaid under the affordable care act, arkansas has covered almost 14% of its uninsured already think about that. 14% of the uninsured in arkansas

are already insured because of work you did. oregon has covered 10% of its uninsured already. we have some oregon folks in the house. and you know what's been encouraging is you have some conservative republican governors who in some daze verb they've recognized this is too good a deal for the people of our state to pass up even if it's not convenient politics for us, and i'm proud of them for doing that. nobody deserves to be denieded health care because of the politician. the president of the united states making the case for elizabeth cohen is or correspondent. there are some serious problems, include we're learn you no, sir, what, every night this week from 1:00 a.m. through 5:00 a.m. they're going to shut down the website once again. is that right? >> these shutdowns have happened

before, especially on the weekends or there was a holiday last month where they shut down. in order to fix this site, which has been so broken, they really do that down time is really, really helpful. i guess they're figuring how many people are on the site between 1:00 and 5:00 in the morning. >> not on the east coast, but maybe on the west coast. elizabeth we'll check back with you tomorrow. thanks very much. still ahead, thousands of iranians venting their anger, what does it say about historic efforts to try to reach out to the country's president? plus rand paul is calling plagiarism allegations an insult. stand by for the latest on this controversy. we want you to tweet us with your views on this story, others news, always remember, use the #sitroom. [ pilot ] weather conditions aren't nearly as nice

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in this her he calls the u.s. and britain the worst offenders, and condemns them. the debate he says, quote, they wanted to avoid is now taking place in countries around the world, he wrote, instead of causes damage, the use is causing society to push for political reforms, oversight and new laws. >> i spoke to a senior state department official about this, is snowden had a legal means. he could have pursued it in the nsa, taken it up to the inspector general. if that wasn't good enough, he could have gone to court. in fact he's saying he could come back and face the charge in course. that's the legal way to pursue his case. his position, of course, is he won't get a fair trial here. >> the whole issue of u.s./iranian relations. today we saw a huge demonstration marking the 23rd anniversary of the takeover of

the -- what does that say about this effort to try to improve this relationship? >> you're getting conflicting signalses, some are true replyial opposition, some are more political posturing, and playing to a local audience, which is important there. so today the protest at the u.s. embassy marking the anniversary of the takeover. the protesters burning flags were, by the way, on sale at stores, and others even carrying mockups of centrifuges. but you also have the supreme leader of iran, arguably the biggest skeptic of the country warming up to u.s., calling on iranians to give negotiators time. the administration here is also asking for time. here is what white house spokesman jay carney said today. >> the history of mistrust between the united states and the islamic republic of iran is

deep. it will not be erased overnight. what we are doing now is not truth. we are in serious substantive negotiations that have the possibility of stopping the advance of iran's nuclear program f. and gesht a long-term comprehensive solution. i've been to more demonstrations in iran than i can count. they're a good part theater as well as public opposition. i've been to them where people are small, laughing when they're taking part. that said, there is real optimism and skepticism. that's something that people like the president are very aware. they have to show results very quickly, much the way politicians here, the administration has to show results as well. they have to so the iranians willing to put real restrictions

on the nuclear program. as that is happening, politicians in iran have to be aware of the public opposition, and you'll have some playing up. the white house was saying, hey, we're not paying attention to that, but the talks that are taking player. >> thanks very much, jim scuitto. widening allegations of plagiarism have supposedly rand paul, the tea party favorite and presidential prospect, he is firing right back, saying he won't lie down and take these so-called insults. brian todd has details. >> the latest we in news organizations have uncovered what we believe is a pattern here. rand paul, in at least one speech and in this recent book he wrote seems to have listed whole passages not his own and used them without immediately citing sources.

a consieve -- abomination, but now senator rand paul stands accused of doing something our third-grade teachers would nail us for. in a recent speech as liberty university, first flagged by msnbc and the buzzfeed website, he doesn't -- when he talked about the movie "gattica" but listen to his words on the wikipedia entry. >> in the not-too-distant fut e future, it plays the primary role in determining your social class. vincent freeman is conceived and born the old-fashioned way. due to the frequent screenings, vincent faces genetic discrimination, the only way to achieve his dream of being an astronaut, he has to become what's called a borrowed ladder. >> paul and his aides says almost all his speech been have

not been footnoted, but they will be in the future. >> i think the spoken word shouldn't be held to the same sort of standard that you have if you're giving a scientific paper. i've written scientific papers. i know how to footnote things. >> does he? buzzfeed cites a section on a supreme court case, one paragraph begins with the prosecution also reveals the risks of federalizing criminal law. that and every sentence in that graph march work for wore in a study from the heritage foundation. we counted several paragraphs that were almost exactly like those in the study. rand paul doesn't quote or credit the study in that section of his book. he admits some of the sourcing may have been sloppy, but he also said this to abc. >> i will not lie down and say people can wall my misleading or misrepresenting. >> paul is not the only politician cited for something like this. in 1987, joe biden was caught

lifting part of a british politician's speech. revelations partially response for biden bowing out of the '88 presidentacy race. >> in the long term, you know if he runs for president and beyond, there will be a whole army looking at everything he says and writing. it should have been indented -- he serz the sources are cited, and right here -- the end notes in this area do not say which parts of the book come from that. the publisher of paul's book never returned or phone calls. a spokesman for the heritage found says they're not upset, happy to have the work cited by them. just ahead, so how close was hillary clinton become to the president's running mate in 2012? jeer going to talk about the revelations in a new book that my sources were telling me in

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a new tell-all book about the 2012 presidential campaign creating lots of buzz, in part because it gives insights into some of the possible contenders for the white house in 2016. let's talk about "double down" with ryan liza, the washington correspondent for "the new yorker" and peet are hanvey. a lot of discussion about what's

in the book, about maybe hillary would be added to the ticket, joe biden would be dumped. i asked her about that when i interviewed her back in april of 2012. >> if the president of the united states says madam secretary, i need you on the ticket this year in order to beat romney, are you ready to run as his vice presidential running mate? >> that is not going to happen. that's like saying if the olympic committee called you up and said, are you ready to run the marathon, would you accept? well, it's not going to happen. >> i disagree. >> o. well -- >> it's unlikely, i will say that. >> it's more than unlikely i want if he sees in july he's going down, he doesn't want to be a one-term -- >> leon and i are in this awkward position. we both have been in politics and we are now in two jobs that are out of politics, for all the right reasons. i don't comment on politicians

anymore. i'm very confident about the outcome of this election. as you've said many times, i think joe biden, a dear friend of ours, has served the country and served the president very well. so i'm out of politics, but very supportive of the team we have in the white house going forward. remember, ryan every time i even speculated, i got slammed by officials in the white house. what are you talking about? now we've learned in this book there was actually focus group testing to see if they should do that. >> it seems like you knew something. >> i had been told -- we did check it out, it's unlikely, but politics is a crazy business. >> what's fun about these books is the campaign moves so fast, and it's nice to have just a couple people sit back and spend ago couple years streaming

together some none anecdotes. >> and also after the campaign we immediately segue into inauguration and the next election, so i think that's a valuable part. >> if that testing would have shown a huge shift in his favor, they may have rethought it? >> david axelrod i think said we did do our dual diligence, we did focus group it, but like any potential running mate, it only makes a smidgen of a difference. it was completely negligible, but they were just doing their due diligence. >> i think the white house even said it never even got to obama. >> they say that about everything. >> let's talk a bit about paul ryan. he became the vice presidential nominee. chris christie was bypassed for whatever reason. but in an excerpt, it says your article on paul ryan, that

romney read on his flight back from israel to the united states helped convince him that rye wand would be a good running mate. were you surprised to hear a that? >> a little bit. i picked a little bit of that earlier this year when i talked to him on another piece, and there was a romney strategist i e-mailed with earlier this year and had heard inklings. to be honest when i was writing that piece, i became more convinced that he would not be picked for vice president, because would you i why would this guy spend all the time from a reporter from "the new yorker" if he's being vetted? so i became less convinced. i would love to take credit in some way for romney picking him. i doubt that romney needed "the new yorker" to explain who paul ryan was to him, but maybe it- >> the chris christie, it makes it look like he had real baggage

that raised alarm bells. >> this is. >> there's plenty of gossip in the book, but moving forward, chris christie, you know, is probably going to run for president in 2016. to mark halperin and john heilman's credit, they understand the -- they're dropping a daisy cutter on his head the minute he will roll up the victory in new jersey. he'll have to start answering questions as he pill volts about this defamation lawsuits against him, about an investigation into his practices as u.s. attorney. various things that surfaced in this book as part of his vetting file, and turned over brazenly to reporters. that never happens in the vetting process. >> and all of a sudden we know about the vetting process, not necessarily good. peter, thanks very much. ryan, good reporting as usual. the double-down co-authors mar hall aspirin and john heilman will be here in the "the situation room" live with me on

thursday. we'll talk to them about their new book. you can always follow what's going on behind the scenes on twitter. tweet me @wolfblitzer. tweet the show@sitroom. "crossfire", that starts right now. tonight on "crossfire", who is the face of the republican future? tea party purity or new jersey practicing ma temple? >> the whole country is watching, everybody. >> governor chris christie isn't shy about working with democrats or getting in your face. >> excuse me. no, excuse me. >> on the left stephanie cutter, on the right larry elder, in the "crossfire", too la tourette, a republican moderate and rick tyler, a conservative strategist. is chris christie writing the playbook? >> you're running for president on our